Darkness Unveiled

What was once good and perfect, flawless and right, is now tainted, darkened, and marred.

When God created the world and all that is in it, he called what he made good. Only one who is good can proclaim something to be good. Therefore, it truly was good, from its surface to its core. It was the epitome of peace, a world where everything was right.

But it didn't last long. It didn't take much time for mankind to introduce darkness into that which was so good. Depravity soon took hold of a world originally created to reflect God's glory, introducing evil, pain and death.

The older I get and the more I experience, the more I learn that the world does a good job of dispelling all good as soon as possible. Innocence is banished at the first opportunity in favor of "education" and "enlightenment." Nothing is sacred or secret as the private and personal is lived out in front of the eyes of all. And through it all, the world does a clever job of masking its evil. It veils the darkness in a mist of lies, that everything is fine, acceptable, "good."

Wrong has been twisted so far, it is made to seem right. Evil parades itself about, it is the subject of newscasts and TV shows, games and photographs. All the while, people cheer it on as progress, human rights, the norm. And little by little, what is truly good is lost.

What is good is quiet peace, self-control, restraint, love for others above oneself. Good is remembering why the world was created, its divinely appointed purpose, and not losing sight of that. To forget what is good is to allow the veil to encircle you, to the point where you begin to think of the darkness as "not that bad." In that moment, you begin to lose all that you were supposed to be, and become something you were never meant to be.

I see this darkness daily, the things that happen to innocent people, wrong perpetuated. I see lives lived out in a veiled state, stumbling, lost, the wrong made right. But what can I do about it? What can any of us do to a veil so big, so vast?

The truth is, we in our own strength will never dispel the entire veil, it is too vast. But on a much smaller level, we can help to protect others from this veiled darkness. Truth told is truth remembered. I'm always strengthened most by those who have resolved to resist the darkness, who know what they believe and why. Those who have committed to the good remind me why I stand firm in the truth, why I must.

Forbid that the veil should cloud our eyes, that we should deceive ourselves. Evil lurks in the darkness, and you must fight it.